Part 5

How is your poor heart? Is it always valiant and vigilant against attacks of sadness? In God’s name, do not torment it, even though it wander a little; reprove it gently, and bring it back to the path. You will see that this heart will become a true heart, according to the Heart of God.

377.

Think of that great dereliction which our Master endured, and see how this dear Son, having asked consolation of his good Father, and seeing that He willed not to grant it, thought of it no more, ceased to seek it, but, as if He had never desired it, valiantly and courageously set about the work of our redemption. After you shall have prayed to your Heavenly Father for consolation, if it does not please Him to give it you, cease to think of it, but renew your courage to work out your salvation on the cross, as if you were never to descend therefrom.

378.

O my God! how beautiful, how lovely is this cross! We make every effort to obtain the wood, and we exalt it on the Mount of Calvary. Alas! happy are those who love it and bear it. It will be exalted in heaven, when our Lord shall come to judge the living and the dead, to teach us that heaven is the mansion of crucified souls.

379.

I love independent, vigorous, and sensible souls; for this great sensibility confuses and disquiets the heart, and distracts it from the prayer of loving attention to God, prevents complete resignation, and impedes the perfect destruction of self-love. I am the most affectionate person in the world; and it seems to me that I love nothing but God, and all souls for God.

380.

When a soul aspires to be the spouse of Jesus Christ, it must cast off the old man and clothe itself in the new, by giving up sin, and then cutting off from its life all the superfluities which could divert it from divine love.

381.

As the exercise of purity of heart ends only with life, let us not be troubled at sight of our imperfections. Our perfection consists in combating them, and we cannot combat or vanquish them without feeling and knowing them.

382.

Our Lord is the mysterious tree of desire of which the holy spouse of the canticle speaks. It is to his feet, then, that we must go to breathe a sweeter air, howsoever little the heart may be oppressed by the atmosphere of the world.

383.

We desire to build a great edifice, that is, to erect God’s dwelling within us; therefore let us consider whether we have sufficient courage to ruin ourselves, or to let God raze us to the ground that He may rebuild us into a living temple of his Majesty.

384.

Our sole pretentions should be to be united to God, as our Lord was united to his Father when He died on the cross.

385.

Desire nothing, ask nothing, refuse nothing; this practice contains all perfection.

386.

There is a certain simplicity of heart which contains the perfection of all perfections; and it is this simplicity which makes our soul consider God alone, and keep its forces wholly collected within itself, in order to devote itself with all possible fidelity to the observance of his laws, with no wish or desire for anything else.

387.

Recall yourself sometimes to the interior solitude of your heart, and there, removed from all creatures, treat of the affairs of your salvation and your perfection with God, as a friend would speak heart to heart with another.

388.

We retire into God because we aspire to Him, and we aspire to Him that we may retire into Him. Thus the retirement of the heart and the aspiration towards God are one the effect of the other.

389.

Our will can never die, but it sometimes passes beyond the limits of its ordinary life to live wholly in the divine will. This is accomplished when it will not and cannot any longer will anything, but abandons itself without reserve to the good pleasure of Providence: it no longer lives, but the will of God lives in it.

390.

Let us be earnestly attentive to blessing God for all that He shall do, saying: “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” No, Lord, I desire nothing; for I leave Thee to will for me wholly as Thou pleasest; instead of wishing for anything, I bless Thee for what Thou shalt decree.

391.

Hast thou fallen into the net of adversity? Look not at thy misfortunes, or the snares into which thou art taken, but turn to God and leave all to Him. He will care for thee.

392.

We should peacefully abide in our misery and abjection, in the midst of our imperfections and weakness until it shall please God to raise us to the practice of great virtues.

393.

We must live in this world as if our mind were in heaven and our body in the tomb.

394.

Choose the best virtues and not those which are most esteemed; the most excellent, and not the most apparent; the most solid, and not the most fanciful.

395.

If anger or pride attack me, I must do all in my power to incline my heart to humility and meekness, devoting to that end my spiritual exercises, the sacraments and the other virtues.

396.

Do not limit your patience to certain trials, but extend it universally to all that God shall send you, or permit to reach you through any source.

397.

A truly patient man bears, with the same evenness of temper, ignominious trials and those which are honourable. As the sting of bees is more painful than that of flies, so the contradictions we experience at the hands of good people are more trying than those which come from the wicked.

398.

Complain as little as possible of injuries, for it rarely happens that one complains without sin, since our self-love exaggerates in our eyes and hearts the wrongs we have received.

399.

You wish absolutely to form Jesus Christ in you, in your heart, in your works, by a sincere love of his doctrine and a perfect imitation of his life; rest assured it will cost you many pangs; but they will pass away, and the presence of Jesus, who shall live in you, will fill your soul with an ineffable joy which can never be taken from you.

400.

Think frequently of Jesus crucified; consider Him covered with wounds, filled with sadness, despoiled of everything, loaded with maledictions. Then you will acknowledge that your sufferings can in no way compare with his, and that never shall you endure anything in the least degree approaching what He suffered for you.

401.

God’s great desire is that we should be perfect, to unite ourselves with Him by the perfect imitation of his sanctity. “Be you therefore perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”

LIVE JESUS!

_=God be Praised.=_

M. H. Gill & Son, Printers, Dublin.

Transcriber’s Notes

1. Italic text in the original is delimited by underscores.

2. Bold text in the original is delimited by equals signs.

3. Blackletter text in the original is delimited by both underscores and equals signs.

4. Maxim 398 is a repeat of maxim 181, and maxim 370 is a repeat of maxim 182.

5. The following table notes the changes made to the printed text, denoted in brackets:

=Page= =Maxim= =Text= =Operation= 16 24 may happen [you] to-morrow Removed. 38 78 imperfections and venia[l] Added. 42 86 body w[ /i]ll be Replaced. 47 100 constant[ly] Added. 60 135 confidence in Him[.] Added. 79 176 as by his words[.] Added. 86 194 for a short time[.] Added. 97 213 so carefull[y] to discover Added. 107 233 you ha[ ]ve been Removed. 124 268 through Him[,] the mind Added. 151 323 your[/newline/]self Removed. 163 349 practise patience[.] Would Added. 178 374 37[ ]4 Removed.